The invention is related to a system for generating corporate information, such as customer information etc.
A large organisation usually has many automation systems which contain information on partly the same objects, for example customers. In this regard there is a user group within the organisation which requires customer information originating from various systems and which is displayed as originating from one source. These users, in other words, require an integrated customer image.
It is obvious that the data model behind this integrated customer image should be based on the corporate data model. This data model, after all, offers an unequivocal frame of concepts which can be assumed to be known throughout the company. The data model on which this corporate data model is based is further designated as the target model.
The following requirements can be set regarding the target model:
Each object has a meaningless key, which, once assigned to an object, always retains the same value;
herewith, each object always has an unequivocal identification throughout time, which is important for the following reasons:
the keys are independent of implementation details in the legacy systems;
it is possible to store information on an object and to save this information;
trends for an object or for a group of objects can be followed;
Simple derivability of records from the legacy data to objects in the target model and vice versa; this is important for the following reasons:
the transformation of legacy data into target data is testable;
quality monitoring is possible;
condition for possible implementation of update functions, in which commands which are given in terms of the corporate model are translated into a sequence of actions at the level of the legacy systems. The target model shall have to fed from the legacy systems. A possible technical solution for filling the target model is one in which the legacy systems are directly xe2x80x9cpricked intoxe2x80x9d by means of RPC (Remote Procedure Calls).
Problems in this regard are:
relationships on legacy systems are often difficult to establish due to incompatible codings etc.;
the load on the legacy stems can be considerable since retrieving data may require intensive processing;
the legacy stems need to be adapted;
OLAP (Online Analytical Processing) on the target model is not possible.
The present invention now fulfils the need for a system providing an integrated corporate information image and therefore provides a system for generating corporate information such as customer information and the like and providing said corporate information to system users, said corporate information originating from various automation systems which contain information on partly the same objects and being displayed as originating from one source thus providing an integrated image, said system comprising means for transforming the contents of a plurality of source databases, each of them being loaded with legacy data records which are modelled according to a data model specific for that source database, to a target database having its own specific target data model, based upon the corporate data model, and said system comprising an intermediate merge database, including control means, between said source databases and said target database, said merge database having an intermediate data structure, and being filled with data from said source database, while said data are re-grouped and re-structured according to said intermediate data structure; said target database being filled from said merge database with said re-grouped and re-structured data, according to said target data model, said target model being enabled to extract data by said system users via user front-end applications;
said intermediate data structure of said merge database comprising following structure elements:
a source identification (BI), indicating the origin of data records within the source database,
a source reference (BR), indicating the origin of related data items in the source database,
a target object identifier (TI), indicating a target object for each of said data record,
a target object reference (TR) indicating a target object for each of said related data items,
a status identifier (ST), indicating if data is current, and
grouping attributes (GA), indicating fields into which data records can be divided in the case of a target object, and relational attributes (RA), indicating fields with which data records are related to a target object-identifier within the merge database;
said transformation, by means of said merge database, comprising following basic operations:
a PROJECTION operation, consisting of filling the table of the merge database from the source database and thereby changing said source identification (BI), said source reference (BR), said status identifier (ST), and said attributes (GA, RA), by said merge database, in conformity to the different data models of the respective databases;
a GROUPING operation, consisting of determining the target object identifier of each data record and thereby changing said target object identifier (TI) and reading said status identifier (ST) and said grouping attribute;
a RELATING operation, consisting of determining the target object identifier of each related data item and thereby reading said target object identifier (TI), said status identifier and said relational attribute (RA), while changing said target object reference (TR).
and optionally a CALCULATING operation, consisting of an evaluation of each attribute of a table of the merge database.
In the solution according to the invention, use is made of dumps of the legacy systems. In this regard, the global structure of the process which takes care of the transformation of legacy data models to a target model is represented by the following table, which, per data set, indicates the content of said data set and the processes acting on said data.
Each table in the target database has its counterpart in a so-called merge database, from which it can be derived. In the target database, a complete and unequivocal image of an object is stored. In the merge database, all information on said object which is present in the source data is placed before that same object. The individual sources can each provide a fragmentary and mutually conflicting image of the object. The core of the transformer is the merge database.
The merge database has a generic structure through which the above-mentioned requirements of the target model can be met. According to the present invention, the merge database has the following structure elements:
Four basic operations are defined on the above structure:
PROJECTION: filling of the table of the merge database from the source database;
GROUPING: determining the target-object-id of the object to which the record belongs;
RELATING: determining the target-object-id of a related datum within the merge database;
CALCULATING: evaluation of the attribute of a table of the merge database.
The following table indicates which structure elements are read and changed by one of the basic operations. The basic operation xe2x80x9ccalculatingxe2x80x9d is diverse in nature and is not unequivocally representable in the table.
Note: The basic operation RELATING reads from two tables and changes one table.